Photo of the month

"Ustad (T.24) (Panthera tigris tigris)"

In my opinion a terrible injustice was carried out at Ranthambhore Tiger Reserve three years ago today when an adult male tiger known as Ustad (T24) was tranquilized and then carted off in a truck on a long drive in the heat of the day to Udaipur zoo where he remains today. Some people have called Ustad a ‘man-eater’ but that is something I can never accept. Part of his home range included the long winding road leading from the entrance to the park to the old fort where each year many thousands of pilgrims walk to pray at the Ganesh temple. Surely easy pickings for any ‘man-eater’? No reports were ever received that Ustad attempted to stalk and/or attack any of these people. In the circumstance I think that there must have been an ulterior motive for the removal of this magnificent tiger from his forest home where he and the tigress known as Noor and their two cubs lived. More on Ustad can be found by following this link: https://bit.ly/2qha1xc

Tiger Photography - Tigers in the Forest

Michael Vickers is a wildlife photographer and conservationist who has a particular passion for tigers and travels regularly to India to photograph and search for them in their natural environment. Some of Michael’s photographs have appeared in The BBC Wildlife Magazine and in literature produced by The Born Free Foundation, Care for the Wild International, The David Shepherd Wildlife Foundation, The Environmental Investigation Agency and The Wildlife Protectection Society of India. You will see above a small selection of Michael’s photographs taken at some of India’s National Parks.

All tiger photographs (Panthera tigris tigris) that can be viewed in the gallery portfolio were taken in the wild and NOT in a captive environment. There are a huge range of tiger photos to browse.

During 2010 ‘The year of the Tiger’ the BBC showed some most interesting videos and other information on the tiger which can be seen byfollowing this LINK

Below is a short video of a tigress together with her cubs that I filmed at Tadoba tiger reserve in May 2016.